Cross-Cultural Differences
and Similarities
Comparing Cultures as
Overlapping Normal Distributions
How the French
see the Americans:
How the Americans
see the French
unprincipled
aggressive
workaholic
naïve
flamboyant
hierarchical
emotional
arrogant
Work value and
attitude similarities
Ronen and Shenkar (1985)
Other researchers have found other clusters,
depending on variables used
Ronen and Kraut (1977)
Country clusters
Nordic (Norway, Finland, Denmark)
South American (Venezuela, Mexico, Chile)
Latin European (France, Belgium)
Germanic (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
Anglo-American (U.S., U.K., Australia)
Examined variables
in four categories
maps the relationship among countries
by showing the distance between
each on various cultural dimensions
Need deficiency, fulfillment, and job satisfaction
Managerial and organizational variables
Importance of work goals
Work role and interpersonal orientation
GLOBE: Country clusters were based on
Geography
Religion
Common language
Historical accounts
Parochialism &
Simplification
Parochialism: View world through
own eyes and perspectives
Simplification: Exhibit same orientation
toward different cultural groups
Six Basic Cultural Variations
The person's relationship to other people: Lineal (hierarchic)
Collateral (collectivist), Individualist
The modality of human activity: Doing*
Being and becoming, Being
The person's relationship to nature: Dominant*
In harmony with nature, Subjugation
The temporal focus of human activity: Future, Present, Past
The nature of people: Good, A mixture of good and evil, Evil
The conception of space: Private, Mixed, Public
Similarities
Procedures and strategies that work well at home can't be adopted overseas without modifications
Some similarities have been found
Not possible to do business same way
in every global location
For example: Russia & US
Human resources
Networking activities
Communication
OB Mod
Traditional management
Differences
Wages, compensation, pay equity, maternity leave
Importance of criteria used in evaluation of employees
Far more differences than similarities
found in cross-cultural research
Cultural Differences in Selected
Countries and Regions
Doing business in Vietnam, U.S, Mexico, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE, Australia, South Africa